How can we get better insights in the many “othered” populations that have shaped Europe for centuries? How to align Europe’s proclaimed identity with everyday reality? And how can Europe overcome its colonial past to become a truly diverse and inclusive continent? We start by reflecting upon ourselves. Athena Institute aims to identify post/de/colonial grass roots organisations and communities that have been affected by colonial history. We study how their positions are negotiated through embodied knowledge and explore various healing interventions addressing the afterlives of the affected communities. In addition, we investigate how we can measure the social impact of these interventions. We examine how to create places for coming together, in which we can explore how we can heal from ‘being implicated’ in colonial pasts, across drastically different positionalities. We seek to understand how healing can take place even across affects that are understood as negative, such as anger, shame or guilt. Read the full project on the website of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.